Production Team to Duck Dynasty: Stop Praying, Start Cursing?

“They told us to cut Jesus from prayers, to avoid offending Muslims.”

That’s what Phil Robertson, the bearded star of the popular A&E reality series Duck Dynasty, told Sports Spectrum magazine in a recent interview.

Breitbart quotes from the interview with stars Willie and Phil Robertson, explaining how their words were edited to remove any reference to Jesus:

When we prayed, we said, ‘in Jesus’ name, amen.’  I don’t have a verse that says you must always pray in the name of Jesus, but it’s a very good idea, I think.  So [in the final version] they would have me say, ‘Thank you, Oh Lord, for the food, thank you for the leavens, amen.’  So I said, ‘Why would you cut out “in Jesus’ name”?  And they said, ‘Well, those editors are probably doing that, they think, you know, it might offend some of the Muslims, you know.’

Phil didn’t accept that logic, though.  Instead, he asked the Hollywood producers, “Let’s see now.  What year is it?”  He then explained to the editing team that 2012 A.D.—Anno Domini—is the year of Our Lord.  If we count time by Jesus of Nazareth, he reasoned, it doesn’t hurt to throw His name in there from time to time.

The producers responded, “We never thought about that!”

“Duh,” said Phil with his accustomed bluntness.  “’Gimme a break!’  So I notice now that every once in a while, they leave it in there.”

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The deletion of Jesus’ name is not the only edit which caught Duck Commanders’ Christian stars off guard.  In the Sports Spectrum interview, Phil Robertson also noted that the editing team had been inserting “bleeps”—making it seem as though the cast had been cursing, although no swear words had ever been used.

“They inserted fake bleeps, like someone had used profanity, but no one had used profanity,” the Duck Commander founder said in the interview. “So I asked those guys that produce the show. I said, ‘What’s the point of the fake bleeps?'”

The answer, he reasons, is that the producers “probably thought that there was some profanity going on” but he insists there was “zero” swearing happening.

A&E has offered no comment on Robertson’s claims.

You can see the full interview with Phil and Willie here.